Scientist recreates Shroud of Turin

Posted October 6, 2009 - 03:27
by
Nigel Constantine

An Italian scientist has successfully reproduced the Shroud of Turin and claims that he didn't need the Son of God or a miracle to do it.

Although carbon dating has proved that the Shroud was a medieval forgery, many people refuse to believe that the image could have been made in the 'primitive Middle Ages'. They argue that only extreme energy could have created that image, something the Almighty is good at, but Medieval forgers were not up to doing.

Armed with a grant from the Atheists society, organic chemist Luigi Garlaschelli from the University of Pavia managed to recreate the whole thing using a few cheap chemicals and an oven.

He put a linen sheet flat over a volunteer who had not been crucified and then rubbed it with a pigment containing traces of acid. A mask was used for the face. The pigment was then artificially aged by heating the cloth in an oven and washing it, a process which removed it from the surface but left a fuzzy, half-tone image similar to that on the Shroud.

The pigment on the original Shroud faded naturally over the centuries. Blood stains, burn holes, scorches and water stains to achieve the final effect which has been worshipped for centuries as proof that Christ was crucified.

To be fair the Roman Catholic Church does not claim the Shroud is authentic or even it is a matter of faith that you believe in it. Garlaschelli expects people to contest his findings. If they couldn't believe carbon dating done by some of the world's best laboratories they certainly won't believe him, he told AP.

One of the weak points of his findings is that the work was funded by the Italian association of atheists and agnostics. He claimed it had no effect on his results.

He said that “money has no odor,” adding that the project was scientific and if the Church wants to fund him in the future, he would do it.